Mobile phone manufacturers shipped 825.5 million handsets during 2005, according to new data from analyst firm IDC.

The figure represents a 16.7 per cent increase from the 707.3 million phones shipped in 2004.

The record number was caused largely by a spike in phone shipments in the fourth quarter, which accounted for 29.7 per cent of all phones shipped.

Nokia remained the largest mobile phone maker by a strong margin, claming a 32.1 per cent market share. Motorola showed the largest growth, however, increasing its share by 2.9 percentage points to 17.7 per cent.

The runners up were Samsung at 12.5 per cent, LG Electronics at 6.7 per cent and Sony Ericsson at 6.2 per cent.

The strong figures bode well for 2006, according to Ryan Reith, a research analyst with IDC's mobile phone tracker team.

"Although this year's fourth quarter produced a significant gain over the same quarter a year ago, the fact that this is the second consecutive quarter with shipments over 200 million suggests that the market will continue to enjoy solid growth into 2006," he said.